On April 20, 2006, Latinos in North Carolina joined thousands of people in an organized march to show support for comprehensive immigration reform being considered in Congress. When federal ...
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On April 20, 2006, Latinos in North Carolina joined thousands of people in an organized march to show support for comprehensive immigration reform being considered in Congress. When federal immigration reform failed at the end of 2006, the public was left with the realization that the U.S. immigration system has no clear plan for dealing with undocumented immigrants. To understand how demographic change is affecting North Carolina communities, this book has three goals: (1) to create a bigger picture of the transnational processes that involved migration; (2) to present the stories of Latinos in North Carolina; and (3) to consider the consequences of how native communities respond to demographic change.Less

Introduction : Mapping the Issues at the Heart of Change in North Carolina and the Southeast

Hannah Gill

Published in print: 2010-11-01

On April 20, 2006, Latinos in North Carolina joined thousands of people in an organized march to show support for comprehensive immigration reform being considered in Congress. When federal immigration reform failed at the end of 2006, the public was left with the realization that the U.S. immigration system has no clear plan for dealing with undocumented immigrants. To understand how demographic change is affecting North Carolina communities, this book has three goals: (1) to create a bigger picture of the transnational processes that involved migration; (2) to present the stories of Latinos in North Carolina; and (3) to consider the consequences of how native communities respond to demographic change.

Women filing gender-based asylum claims have long faced skepticism and outright rejection within the U.S. immigration system. Despite erratic progress, the United States still fails to recognize ...
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Women filing gender-based asylum claims have long faced skepticism and outright rejection within the U.S. immigration system. Despite erratic progress, the United States still fails to recognize gender as an established category for experiencing persecution. Gender exists in a sort of limbo segregated from other aspects of identity and experience. This book exposes racialized rhetorics of violence in politics and charts the development of gender as a category in U.S. asylum law. Starting with the late 1980s, when gender-based requests first emerged in case law, the book analyzes gender- and sexuality-related cases against the backdrop of national and transnational politics. The book's focus falls on cases as diverse as Guatemalan and Salvadoran women sexually abused during the Dirty Wars and transgender asylum seekers from around the world fleeing brutally violent situations. The book reviews the claims, evidence, testimony, and message strategies that unfolded in these legal arguments and decisions, and illuminates how legal decisions turned gender into a political construct vulnerable to U.S. national and global interests. It also explores myriad related aspects of the process, including how subjects are racialized and the effects of that racialization, and the consequences of policies that position gender as a signifier for women via normative assumptions about sex and heterosexuality.Less

Gendered Asylum : Race and Violence in U.S. Law and Politics

Sara L. McKinnon

Published in print: 2016-09-01

Women filing gender-based asylum claims have long faced skepticism and outright rejection within the U.S. immigration system. Despite erratic progress, the United States still fails to recognize gender as an established category for experiencing persecution. Gender exists in a sort of limbo segregated from other aspects of identity and experience. This book exposes racialized rhetorics of violence in politics and charts the development of gender as a category in U.S. asylum law. Starting with the late 1980s, when gender-based requests first emerged in case law, the book analyzes gender- and sexuality-related cases against the backdrop of national and transnational politics. The book's focus falls on cases as diverse as Guatemalan and Salvadoran women sexually abused during the Dirty Wars and transgender asylum seekers from around the world fleeing brutally violent situations. The book reviews the claims, evidence, testimony, and message strategies that unfolded in these legal arguments and decisions, and illuminates how legal decisions turned gender into a political construct vulnerable to U.S. national and global interests. It also explores myriad related aspects of the process, including how subjects are racialized and the effects of that racialization, and the consequences of policies that position gender as a signifier for women via normative assumptions about sex and heterosexuality.

Caught between violent partners and the bureaucratic complications of the U.S. Immigration system, many immigrant women are particularly vulnerable to abuse. For two years, the author volunteered at ...
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Caught between violent partners and the bureaucratic complications of the U.S. Immigration system, many immigrant women are particularly vulnerable to abuse. For two years, the author volunteered at a nonprofit group that offers free legal services to mostly undocumented immigrants who had been victims of abuse. The ensuing study of Latina survivors of domestic violence explores the complexities at the intersection of immigration, citizenship, and violence, and shows how inequality is perpetuated even through the well-intentioned delivery of vital services. Through archival research, participant observation, and personal interviews, the book provides insight into the many obstacles faced by battered immigrant women of color, bringing their stories and voices to the fore. Ultimately, the book proposes an active policy advocacy agenda and suggests possible changes to gender violence-based immigration laws, revealing the complexities of the lives of Latina immigrants as they confront issues of citizenship, gender violence, and social inequalities.Less

Violence Against Latina Immigrants : Citizenship, Inequality, and Community

Roberta Villalon

Published in print: 2010-06-07

Caught between violent partners and the bureaucratic complications of the U.S. Immigration system, many immigrant women are particularly vulnerable to abuse. For two years, the author volunteered at a nonprofit group that offers free legal services to mostly undocumented immigrants who had been victims of abuse. The ensuing study of Latina survivors of domestic violence explores the complexities at the intersection of immigration, citizenship, and violence, and shows how inequality is perpetuated even through the well-intentioned delivery of vital services. Through archival research, participant observation, and personal interviews, the book provides insight into the many obstacles faced by battered immigrant women of color, bringing their stories and voices to the fore. Ultimately, the book proposes an active policy advocacy agenda and suggests possible changes to gender violence-based immigration laws, revealing the complexities of the lives of Latina immigrants as they confront issues of citizenship, gender violence, and social inequalities.